Govt shutdown not impacting NC Head Start – yet

The federal government shutdown has not had an immediate impact on the 55 agencies that run federally-funded Head Start programs in North Carolina — yet, said Head Start State Collaboration Office’s Director Khari Garvin.

“But that’s because of their funding cycles,” Garvin explained.

Head Start programs across the country are being forced to close down thanks to the federal government shutdown that began yesterday. In Talladega, Alabama, a Head Start agency had to close programs across six counties that serve 770 students, many of whom have nowhere else to go for daytime care while their parents work.

Those programs are among the first to close because their funding cycles run October 1-September 30.

In North Carolina, no programs are on that funding cycle. “If the shutdown continues, say, another 90 days, then programs will begin to be affected,” Garvin told NC Policy Watch.

Dora Jones, director of Cheaha Regional Head Start agency in Talladega, had a message for lawmakers in her interview with NPR.

“Please think of the poor innocent children that’s being affected because two groups refuse to come together as adults and make a compromise.”